Tchaikovsky, Modest

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Tchaikovsky, Modest

Tchaikovsky, Modest, Russian playwright and librettist, brother of Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; b. Ala-paevsk, Perm district, May 13, 1850; d. Moscow, Jan. 15, 1916. He was the closest intimate of Tchaikovsky, and the author of the basic biography. His plays had only a passing success, but he was an excellent librettist; he wrote the librettos of Tchaikovsky’s last 2 operas, The Queen of Spades and Iolanthe.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire